*Aideen Walsh. Photograph: Inpho
ENNIS’ Aideen Walsh has been crowned the 2025 Bridgestone Women’s Order of Merit champion.
Aideen produced another season of top-class performances across her five championship appearances which also included collecting another cap for her country.
A member of Woodstock Golf Club and Lahinch Golf Club, Aideen established herself as a frontrunner early in the campaign, with top ten finishes at both the Woodbrook Scratch Cup and the Ulster Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Open Championship moving her into pole position by late May.
Those results gave her a slender 20-point lead over a chasing pack that included Clodagh Coughlan (Douglas), Katie Poots (Knock) and Roscommon teenager Olivia Costello. Despite the narrow margins early on, Aideen remained consistent throughout the summer and held firm at the summit.
Her form continued at the Flogas Irish Women’s Amateur Open Championship at Headfort in June, where a sixth-place finish brought her a further 250 points and allowed her to extend her advantage at the top.
This steady form proved decisive as the race reached its conclusion, a third-place finish at the Dun Laoghaire Scratch Cup in July followed by a run to the last 16 of the AIG Irish Women’s Amateur Close Championship in August secured her a final total of 720 points.
It was enough to finish 95 points clear of Anna Dawson (Tramore) in second and to finally capture her first Bridgestone Order of Merit title, having come close with runner-up finishes in both 2023 and 2024.
On top of the Bridgestone crowe, Aideen was also part of the Irish Women’s Home Internationals team where she helped her side to an unbeaten, title-winning campaign at Woodhall Spa earlier this month.
On the men’s side, Stuart Grehan (County Louth) continued his dominance at the top of the leaderboard with a second championship victory of the season at the AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close in Westport.
In doing so, Grehan joined an elite group, becoming only the third man since Pádraig Harrington in 1995 and Peter O’Keeffe in 2021 to complete the famous Open–Close double, having already lifted the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open in May.
His victory in Mayo earned him a further 500 points and stretched his lead to 536 at the top of the Bridgestone Men’s Order of Merit, with only the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship remaining.
Keith Egan’s tied-sixth finish at Westport moved the Carton House man into second place overall, with East of Ireland Champion David Howard (Fota Island), Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) and West of Ireland Champion Dylan Holmes (Greystones) rounding out the top five.
The Bridgestone Men’s Order of Merit season concludes with the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship at Portstewart from 17–19 September.
